Abstract

Considering a high‐frequency electrostatic surface wave that propagates along a plasma cylinder, it is shown that a local change of the axial wavelength of the wave potential may cause solitary variations in the cylinder radius. The magnitudes of these surface displacements are found to depend essentially only on the wavelength perturbation of the high‐frequency wave whereas their propagation velocities are defined by the wave intensity. Previous results, which only included short‐wavelength oscillations, are also generalized.